ORLANDO, Fla. — One of the 11 people rescued after a plane crashed off Florida’s coast is now accused in a federal cocaine importation conspiracy, according to newly unsealed court records.
Federal prosecutors say Jonathan Eric Gardiner, also known as “Player,” was charged in the Southern District of New York with conspiracy to import a controlled substance.
The complaint says the alleged conspiracy involved 5 kilograms or more of cocaine.
According to the complaint, Gardiner was previously convicted in the Southern District of Florida on federal narcotics and money laundering offenses, sentenced to 220 months in prison and later deported to the Bahamas.
A federal complaint says Gardiner was part of an international narcotics trafficking conspiracy based in the Bahamas that sourced cocaine from Colombia and elsewhere through the Bahamas for distribution in the United States.
According to the complaint, the DEA has been investigating several drug trafficking organizations operating in or around the Bahamas since at least 2022.
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Investigators said the Bahamas’ location between Florida and South America makes it attractive to traffickers moving illicit goods.
The complaint alleges multiple drug trafficking organizations have used the Bahamas to move cocaine from Colombia, Venezuela, Haiti and the Dominican Republic through the Bahamas and ultimately into the United States.
Federal investigators also alleged some trafficking groups worked with members of the Royal Bahamas Police Force and other officials to move shipments through the Bahamas.
Federal agents described Gardiner in the complaint as an international narcotics trafficker based in the Bahamas who sources large quantities of cocaine from Colombia and elsewhere through the Bahamas for eventual distribution in the United States.
The complaint alleges Gardiner was involved in supplying cocaine to a Georgia-based drug trafficking organization, including a shipment of about 9 kilograms of cocaine in February 2023.
Investigators also described discussions involving larger cocaine shipments, including alleged conversations in 2023 and 2024 about moving hundreds of kilograms of cocaine.
The complaint connects the case to Tuesday’s plane crash rescue off Florida’s east coast.
Federal investigators said that on May 12, a Beechcraft 300 Air King turboprop plane carrying 11 people, including Gardiner, crashed into the ocean. The Coast Guard rescued all 11 passengers.
Investigators said that when Gardiner was rescued, he had three phones, about $295 in cash and a cross-body bag containing about $30,000 in bulk Bahamian currency.
Federal agents said the way the cash was packed was consistent with narcotics proceeds.
Officials with the 920th Rescue Wing previously said airmen helped rescue 11 Bahamian adults from a life raft after the aircraft went down about 80 miles east of Melbourne.
The rescue wing said the civilian aircraft had reportedly departed Marsh Harbour in the Bahamas and was headed to Freeport when it experienced engine failure.
Authorities have not said the plane crash itself was connected to drug trafficking.
Gardiner appeared Friday in federal court in Orlando before Magistrate Judge Nathan W. Hill.
Court records show the Orlando appearance was tied to an arrest under Rule 5, which is used when a person is arrested in one federal district on a case filed in another district.
The federal complaint requests that Gardiner be arrested and held as the case proceeds.
Bahamian authorities are expected to investigate the cause of the crash.
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